Well I have said it before, and I will say it again… neither President Bush nor Dick Cheney lied prior to the invasion of Iraq. Democrats will continue with their drum beating declaring that “Bush lied and people died”, but when it is all said and done, all they have is a catchy slogan with no evidence to back it up. The Washington Post had the opportunity to review Rockefeller’s Senate Intelligence (an oxymoron if I ever heard one) report this weekend and here is what they found:

There’s no question that the administration, and particularly Vice President Cheney, spoke with too much certainty at times and failed to anticipate or prepare the American people for the enormous undertaking in Iraq.

But dive into Rockefeller’s [Intelligence Committee] report, in search of where exactly President Bush lied about what his intelligence agencies were telling him about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, and you may be surprised by what you find.

On Iraq’s nuclear weapons program? The president’s statements “were generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates.”

On biological weapons, production capability and those infamous mobile laboratories? The president’s statements “were substantiated by intelligence information.”

On chemical weapons, then? “Substantiated by intelligence information.”

On weapons of mass destruction overall (a separate section of the intelligence committee report)? “Generally substantiated by intelligence information.” Delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles? “Generally substantiated by available intelligence.” Unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to deliver WMDs? “Generally substantiated by intelligence information.”

As you read through the report, you begin to think maybe you’ve mistakenly picked up the minority dissent. But, no, this is the Rockefeller indictment. So, you think, the smoking gun must appear in the section on Bush’s claims about Saddam Hussein’s alleged ties to terrorism.

But statements regarding Iraq’s support for terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda “were substantiated by intelligence information.” Statements that Iraq provided safe haven for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda “were substantiated by the intelligence assessments,” and statements regarding Iraq’s contacts with al-Qaeda “were substantiated by intelligence information.” The report is left to complain about “implications” and statements that “left the impression” that those contacts led to substantive Iraqi cooperation.
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After all, it was not Bush, but Rockefeller, who said in October 2002: “There has been some debate over how ‘imminent’ a threat Iraq poses. I do believe Iraq poses an imminent threat. I also believe after September 11, that question is increasingly outdated. . . . To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? I do not think we can.”

As I reminded last week, it was also Senator Rockefeller who claimed “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons”, so allegations from Rockefeller that Bush knowingly misrepresented the threat posed by Iraq would implicate Rockefeller for his statements as well.

Although I have yet to read the intelligence report myself, it would seem to me that if the Washington Post article accurately quoted the report, than Rockefeller is guilty of the same charges he has laid against President Bush. When releasing this report, Rockefeller told the American people “Before taking the country to war, this administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence”. Yet the report itself seems to indicate the exact opposite, meaning the Senators public statements are in direct conflict with his own committee’s report.

Why would the chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee knowingly misrepresent his own committee’s findings? The Anchoress reminds us of a memo from 2003 which Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts said “appears to be a road map for how the Democrats intend to politicize what should be a bipartisan, objective review of prewar intelligence.”

At the time Democrats wished to politicize the war in the hopes of preventing Bush from being re-elected. With November elections just around the corner, it appears Democrats may be at it again. Lefties continually state that McCain is running for Bush’s third term, so any smear against Bush, particularly with regards to falsifying information about Iraq, would be attributed to McCain as well. There appears to be one little problem with this effort however, and that is that according to Senator Rockefeller’s own committee report, Bush’s statements were substantiated by intelligence reports.

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